The L.A. County Board of Supervisors gave the green light to an executive order on Tuesday, March 31, calling for the county’s top public health chief to assess jails with a goal of releasing more inmates vulnerable to the novel coronavirus .

With the sign-off, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer will now do a formal assessment of jail conditions in the county, which day-to-day includes a population of about 17,000 inmates.

The assessment will go to Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who would then have the power to release more inmates and take other measures to protect front-line staffers assigned to jails.

When Board Chair Kathryn Barger signed the executive order last week, no inmates had tested positive for COVID-19, a respiratory ailment that can lead to pneumonia and which is considered more lethal and contagious than the regular flu.

But on Monday, sheriff’s officials reported that an inmate at a downtown Los Angeles jail had tested positive, the first in the countywide system.

The inmate, who was being housed at Twin Towers Correctional Facility just north of Union Station, tested positive on Thursday, March 26, and was immediately placed in isolation, said Assistant Sheriff Bruce Chase.

Villanueva has for weeks been releasing inmates on a sporadic basis, as the virus outbreak spread across the county, fearing that the ailment would threaten both jail inmates and workers in close proximity with them.

Related links

Last week, Villanueva said 1,700 inmates had been released, or about 10% of the county’s jail population.

All of those inmates had fewer than 30 days left on their sentences. And all were convicted of nonviolent misdemeanors, he said.

Villanueva said he has the power to speed up releases. But he said the rate of releasing inmates could start to slow soon.

Sheriff’s Department officials also called on local police departments to place fewer people into jails around the region.

At a virtual Sheriff’s Department briefing Monday afternoon, officials said the inmate who tested positive was already inside.

“The jails have been an area of great concerns since COVID-19 hit us,” said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who along with his counterpart Sheila Kuehl pushed for Barger to sign the executive order. “They are crowded places with thousands of incarcerated peoplei n close quarters. “We have an obligation to address this issue.”

On Tuesday, supervisors hoped that Villanueva might expand the release of inmates with less than two months left to serve. And officials suggested that Villanueva, in consultation with the public health director, consider the large population of inmates whose cases have yet to go to trial.

Vulnerable populations inside the county’s jail facilities include pregnant women and girls, the elderly and inmates with underlying health issues.

The virus is mainly spread person-to-person through close contact within six feet from each other, but it can also be contracted by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching one’s own mouth, nose or eyes.

The supervisors were also hoping to continue reducing the number of new people coming into jails and to prevent people being released from becoming homeless.

In their “Care First, Jails Last” county initiative, Ridley-Thomas and Kuehl were celebrating a plan that seeks to make incarceration “a last resort” and treatment a first priority in the region.

Surrounding counties are also taking measures to keep their jail populations and those who watch over them safe, using social distancing, screening and hygiene protocols.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.